The Gutting of the Creative Classes

Graham Henderson, President and CEO of national recording industry association, Music Canada has called on the music industry to redress the ‘value gap’ that exists in the industry. This is the amount earned by artist compared to the amounts that could potentially be returned to them

Henderson discusses the impacts of the digital technology companies who ushered a new digital era, with the promise that this would benefit creators. To enact this, creators had to forgo copyright royalties to enable the new technologies to establish themselves and achieve a market foothold

This ‘promise’ of a new era has not materialized with many artists continuing to work long hours for little reward and lacking real power in the music business to change the situation to their benefit. The music technology companies have become powerful, leaving the artist behind

The paradox situation now exists whereby more money is being generated in the music industry, but to the detriment of artists who generate the creative output

He states “the gutting of the creative class over the past two decades has been presented as an inevitability. It is time we question this supposition. We must resist the idea that we cannot change the circumstances in which we live.” In noting the value of a social democracy, and the multiple benefits this great tradition delivers, he said “we can deploy it to restore the balance”

We at Zimrii Music support the views expressed by Henderson. The music utopia envisioned for artists by the music technology companies hasn’t materialised and there has not been a concerted effort to address these issues in a sustained and collaborative way.

We feel that BlockChain Technology provides the most promising approach to tackle these challenges in a democratic and transparent way, which will benefit both the music industry, artists and consumers alike